2011 FR3.5 Series Off-season Thread

[formula_fan]

So what happens if Vergne is leading the championship by mid distance as Red Bull look to replace a Toro Rosso driver? That would make it a very interesting decision for them? I think the pressure is on massively for Ricciardo. Everyone expects him to win, and he needs to be winning as his F1 future may rely on it... thats pressure in my opinion!

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by formula_fan

So what happens if Vergne is leading the championship by mid distance as Red Bull look to replace a Toro Rosso driver? That would make it a very interesting decision for them? I think the pressure is on massively for Ricciardo. Everyone expects him to win, and he needs to be winning as his F1 future may rely on it... thats pressure in my opinion!

I think that Vergne is for 2012, not this year, his activities will mirror those planned for Ricciardo in the most part.

I think STR will only replace one of the drivers anyway if they consistently do a Speed or Bourdais and that isn't guarnteed as they are both extremely hungry drivers.

[ivanalesi]

I've learnt that it's very hard to predict what Herr Marko plans, but he certainly likes to put his drivers under enormous pressure

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by ivanalesi

I've learnt that it's very hard to predict what Herr Marko plans, but he certainly likes to put his drivers under enormous pressure

Oh god yeah, difficult person to please!!

It's fair to assume both Ricciardo and Vergne will be kept on and highly likely that both will be pedalling a Red Bull owned/sponsored car by 2013 latest.

[WSR Fan]

Right, the two days of pre-season testing at Motorland Aragon kicked off this morning and here are the times from the morning session:

1 - Oliver Webb – Pons - 1’43”467 – 31 giri
2 - Brendon Hartley – Gravity Charouz - 1’43”514 - 36
3 - Stephane Richelmi – Draco - 1’43”542 - 30
4 - Robert Wickens – Carlin - 1’43”544 - 29
5 - Davide Rigon – BVM Target - 1’44”566 - 42
6 - Kevin Korjus – Tech 1 – 1’43”709 - 28
7 - Nelson Panciatici – KMP - 1’43”740 - 31
8 - Cesar Ramos – Fortec - 1’43”769 - 26
9 - Daniil Move – P1 - 1’43”947 - 39
10 - Anton Nebylitskiy – KMP - 1’43”988 - 38
11 - Jean Eric Vergne – Carlin - 1’44”022 - 36
12 - Albert Costa – Epsilon Euskadi - 1’44”026 - 31
13 - Walter Grubmuller – P1 - 1’44”086 - 36
14 - Andre Negrao – Draco - 1’44”143 - 28
15 - Daniel Ricciardo – ISR - 1’44”293 - 14
16 - Daniel McKenzie – Comtec - 1’44”334 - 42
17 - Alexander Rossi – Fortec - 1’44”351 - 21
18 - Jake Rosenzweig – Mofaz - 1’44”453 - 37
19 - Jan Charouz – Gravity Charouz - 1’44”480 - 31
20 - Daniel De Jong – Comtec - 1’44”558 - 36
21 - Arthur Pic – Tech 1 - 1’44”919 - 14
22 - Sergio Canamasas – Pons - 1’45”138 - 31
23 - Nathaneal Berthon – ISR - 1’49”265 - 9

Great start there by Webb, let's hope he can produce this sort of form consistently over the course of pre-season!

[bella]

it rained about halfway through the session, and it only started to dry off again right towards the end. the missing cars are one for epsilon euskadi, one for mofaz and one for bvm target.

live timing is here, in the form of a webcam pointing at a telly, but it's very good of them to bother to set it up for those of us suffering withdrawl symptoms

[WSR Fan]

Combined times from day one at Motorland Aragon:

1. Daniel Ricciardo - ISR - 1:42.948
2. Davide Rigon - BVM Target - 1:43.018
3. Robert Wickens - Carlin - 1:43.153
4. Nelson Panciatici - KMP Racing - 1:43.188
5. Alexander Rossi - Fortec Motorsport - 1:43.266
6. Cesar Ramos - Fortec Motorsport - 1:43.305
7. Stephane Richelmi - Draco - 1:43.384
8. Oliver Webb - Pons Racing - 1:43.467
9. Brendon Hartley - Gravity Charouz Racing - 1:43.514
10. Kevin Korjus - Tech 1 Racing - 1:43.579
11. Daniil Move - P1 Motorsport - 1:43.612
12. Albert Costa - Epsilon Euskadi - 1:43.674
13. Daniel Mckenzie - Comtec Racing - 1:43.696
14. Arthur Pic - Tech 1 Racing - 1:43.795
15. Andre Negrao - Draco - 1:43.876
16. Jean-Eric Vergne - Carlin - 1:43.915
17. Walter Grubmuller - P1 Motorsport - 1:43.951
18. Anton Nebylitskiy - KMP Racing - 1:43.952
19. Sergio Canamasas - Pons Racing - 1:43.969
20. Jake Rosenzweig - Mofaz Racing - 1:44.043
21. Daniel De Jong - Comtec Racing - 1:44.407
22. Jan Charouz - Gravity Charouz Racing - 1:44.480
23. Nathanael Berthon - ISR - 1:44.726

OK, it's only the first day back after almost five months off, but there were some pretty interesting performances out there today. Firstly, what a great day from Davide Rigon. He has driven in FR3.5 before (four races at the end of 2005 for Victory Engineering) but he has never driven the current Dallara car until today. It's a shame he's handing over his car to Ricardo Teixeira tomorrow () but if he has the funding in place for a full season then BVM should seriously consider him IMO.

Apart from the more established names, I was impressed with the 2011 rookies out there today, notably Webb, Korjus and Richelmi. When you add Ramos and Rossi into the mix as well the battle for rookie honours could be just as epic as the anticipated title battle between Vergne, Ricciardo and possibly Wickens.

As you can probably tell I can't wait for this season to start!

[ivanalesi]

Nice to see Davide Rigon up there, hopefully FDA will put some cash behind him. We can certainly count him as a title contender, he's got a lot of experience from F3000, SF and little GP2.

[bella]

yep, seconded everything about rigon. fingers crossed he gets a drive and it's not just a data gathering exercise, it'd really stick a rocket up the title battle.

[cds_uk]

Would love to see Davide get a drive in this series, not sure he would win it with a new team but he would certainly be up the sharp end, GO ON DAVIDE!!!

[jondownunder]

Good to see I wasn't the only one excited to see Rigon going well in testing. Hope he secures a deal. Very underrated driver and he came across as a nice guy when I met him at Donington in '09.

[N.A-D.R]

Ricciardo down to a 1:42:237

[bella]

some very interesting times going on, even if you factor out those blatently obvious glory runs! vergne's a bit quiet...

is there a designated session for the low downforce stuff does anyone know, or is it just when teams fancy it?

[N.A-D.R]

Whenever. Vergne has used the new tyres i just think hes off the pace at the moment, but im sure he will find some more time soon maybe setup isn't quite right.

[WSR Fan]

Day Two, Morning times:

1 - Daniel Ricciardo – ISR - 1’42”237 – 25 giri
2 - Alexander Rossi – Fortec - 1’42”401 - 39
3 - Albert Costa – Epsilon Euskadi - 1’42”558 - 34
4 - Cesar Ramos – Fortec - 1’42”575 - 35
5 - Nelson Panciatici – KMP - 1’42”624 - 39
6 - Daniil Move – P1 - 1’42”678 – 42
7 - Robert Wickens – Carlin - 1’42”754 - 28
8 - Kevin Korjus – Tech 1 – 1’42”926 - 34
9 - Brendon Hartley – Gravity Charouz - 1’42”929 - 38
10 - Nathaneal Berthon – ISR - 1’42”964 – 21
11 - Oliver Webb – Pons - 1’43”986 – 34
12 - Jean Eric Vergne – Carlin - 1’43”040 - 34
13 - Daniel McKenzie – Comtec - 1’43”058 - 39
14 - Arthur Pic – Tech 1 - 1’43”074 - 29
15 - Stephane Richelmi – Draco - 1’43”092 - 56
16 - Walter Grubmuller – P1 - 1’43”225 - 29
17 - Jake Rosenzweig – Mofaz - 1’43”422 - 31
18 - Jan Charouz – Gravity Charouz - 1’43”501 - 25
19 - Andre Negrao – Draco - 1’43”591 - 36
20 - Daniel De Jong – Comtec - 1’43”634 - 31
21 - Sergio Canamasas – Epsilon Euskadi - 1’43”637 - 40
22 - Anton Nebylitskiy – KMP - 1’43”647 - 16
23 - Ricardo Teixeira – BVM Target - 1’45”552 – 42

I believe that is the fastest a FR3.5 car has ever gone around Motorland Aragon since it came into use. Dan certainly has hit the ground running, despite the switch of teams.

If BVM Target joined the series on the basis of supporting up-and-coming Italian talent, you have to wonder why they are peddling around with Ricardo Teixeira (Call me cynical but I suspect it has something to do with a large amount of Sonangol $$$). On the flipside, if they chose to sign him up and his money was able to fund a seat for one of Zampieri/Bortolotti/Rigon then I could sort of overlook it...

[bella]

Originally Posted by WSR Fan

On the flipside, if they chose to sign him up and his money was able to fund a seat for one of Zampieri/Bortolotti/Rigon then I could sort of overlook it...

my thoughts entirely and besides, *someone* has to be on the back row... if rigon's pace is valid from yesterday on that basis he could well be in the top 4 at the end of the year... of course it could all be smoke and mirrors too.

[ptclaus98]

*twittles fingers*Excellent*twittles fingers*

[Mak]

Originally Posted by bella

my thoughts entirely and besides, *someone* has to be on the back row... if rigon's pace is valid from yesterday on that basis he could well be in the top 4 at the end of the year... of course it could all be smoke and mirrors too.

/?????????

[formula_fan]

Ricciardo is in a league of his own so far. Wickens and Ramos both look like they are going well. The times are all so close in behind Ricciardo though I guess it could all change soon.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Mak

/?????????

just thinking out loud! must learn to detach keyboard from fingers in future.

it's even more competitive than last year in terms of closeness of the field. next test is barcelona on tuesday, and both days are currently forecast for rain...

[N.A-D.R]

It seems Ricciardo has already adapted to his new team already! Mighty quick, same for Rossi.

From what it looks I think Ricciardo is clear favourite and the battle for 2nd or 3rd to about 8th is going to be mega close.

[Supertec]

I would like to see John Lancaster and Sten Pentus back in WSBR I still think they have unfinished business

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by N.A-D.R

It seems Ricciardo has already adapted to his new team already! Mighty quick, same for Rossi.

From what it looks I think Ricciardo is clear favourite and the battle for 2nd or 3rd to about 8th is going to be mega close.

Testing doesn't mean a whole lot much of the time. Let's wait and see what happens at the races before we start making our minds up.

[N.A-D.R]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Testing doesn't mean a whole lot much of the time. Let's wait and see what happens at the races before we start making our minds up.

I know but i think it's pretty safe to say Ricciardo will carry on from last year but probably even better, and after him it's very close for quite a number of drivers.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by N.A-D.R

I know but i think it's pretty safe to say Ricciardo will carry on from last year but probably even better, and after him it's very close for quite a number of drivers.

He should do but despite Guerrieri's performances last year can ISR really hack it at the front consistently against a Carlin or Tech 1 etc?

And the depth of talent is clearly going to be the highest it's ever been, well at least for the last 3 or 4 years arguably.

To me, that's the debateable points, not Ricciardo's ability and candidature for the title.